{"id":4598,"date":"2015-04-16T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-04-16T20:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/?p=4598"},"modified":"2015-04-13T17:26:50","modified_gmt":"2015-04-14T00:26:50","slug":"mark-watches-the-next-generation-s01e23-skin-of-evil","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/2015\/04\/mark-watches-the-next-generation-s01e23-skin-of-evil\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Watches ‘The Next Generation’: S01E23 – Skin of Evil"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the twenty-third episode of the first season of The Next Generation<\/i>, this isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t okay, and I WILL DIE ON THIS HILL. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch Star Trek<\/i>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I get it. I get the narrative shock and power of what happens here. Hell, there might even be something that happened behind the scenes to warrant this. That still doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t make this a good writing choice, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all. I think it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fucking <\/span>terrible<\/i>, nonsensical, and an utter insult to Tasha Yar as a character.<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m angry.<\/p>\n

The Skin of Evil<\/b><\/p>\n

I think I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m also a little angry that there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s actually a TON of cool shit in this episode because I wish I could focus on that. I do want to talk about the Skin of Evil and Deanna Troi (MARINA SIRTIS IS A WORK OF PERFECTION HERE), but I admit that this entire episode is stained by the death of Tasha Yar. It is! But for the sake of discussion, let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s talk about everything else in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Skin of Evil.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll start by saying that even if you cast aside Tasha\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s role here, this is a viciously cynical episode of the show, one that is so fucked up when you think about it for like\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 five seconds. These beings \u00e2\u20ac\u201c \u00e2\u20ac\u0153titans,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Armus calls them \u00e2\u20ac\u201c more or less shed their \u00e2\u20ac\u0153evil\u00e2\u20ac\u009d nature, creating another creature that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s nothing but a skin of evil. Abandoned on this planet, Armus developed a hatred and sadism that is so pure that it does nothing other than tease and torment any living creature it comes across. And how long has it been since Armus last interacted with someone? Years? Decades? Centuries? Who even knows?<\/p>\n

And this is where Deanna comes in, and as much as I hate the framing of this episode, I will<\/i> be thankful that we got to see Marina Sirtis give us the best performance of this season. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s brilliant that the show uses her to give us the emotional perspective of both Tasha and Riker as they are attacked by Armus. Her Betazoid nature allows her to feel Tasha as she dies; she knows exactly what Riker is going through while inside of that disgusting pool of goo. And yet, while suffering immensely, Deanna still finds it possible to try and sympathize with Armus. There was no other character on this show who could have been in this predicament and had the affect that Deanna had. She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the ship\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s counselor for a reason: her empathy allows her to understand other creatures instantly.<\/p>\n

However, the sad part of all of this is that the show posits that Armus is irredeemable. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no hope for this being because it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so far gone, obsessed with its own hatred and violence. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not something that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s common within the Star Trek<\/i> canon. We don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t really deal with extremes of evil, you know? And even if we do, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s closure. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the defeat of evil. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s some end<\/i> to it all. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not the case here. Picard and Deanna do what they can, but they ultimately choose to distract Armus and escape. They leave this lonely, bitter, hateful thing on Vagra II, and NO ONE IS SUPPOSED TO HELP IT EVER AGAIN.<\/p>\n

Good lord.<\/p>\n

Tasha Yar<\/b><\/p>\n

Over the course of this season, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve gotten a lot of hints about Tasha\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s past. We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve seen glimpses of possible directions her character could be taken. Hell, in this episode alone, we get a scene where Tasha looks fondly upon Worf, hinting at her affection for him. But when you get down to it, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s all that Tasha is: a hint. Potential. A clue. While many characters on this show got fully-fleshed backstories or episodes devoted to exploring their characterization in the present, Tasha Yar was just there<\/i>. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not Denise Crosby\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fault, of course. But as someone watching this show for the first time, it was certainly glaring. Why else have I been demanding a Tasha-centric episode for so long?<\/p>\n

So when the show decides to kill her off in the way they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve done here, it feels even more hollow and egregious than anything else. We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re supposed to be shocked because a beloved member of the crew is dead, but did we see<\/i> how beloved she was? I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think any one member of the crew had less time on screen than here. We saw more of Wesley\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ugly sweaters than Tasha, haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t we? So, based purely on this alone, her death actually isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t<\/i> that shocking, nor is it that meaningful. If Riker had drowned in that pool of goo? That would have been a huge deal. But killing off a secondary character in a way that reflects nothing on their character or history? Why? Why kill someone off like this \u00e2\u20ac\u201c something that The Original Series <\/i>never did \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and do it in a way that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so pointless?<\/p>\n

Look, I know from people on Twitter that Denise Crosby wanted to leave the show. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fine. Then give her a story. Make this episode about her. Close the book on her character. Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t treat her like collateral damage and then give us a funeral sequence that tells us that she was meaningful to the Next Generation <\/i>universe. If she was important, why didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t you show<\/i> us that? You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re just telling me she is, and only AFTER she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s died. I suspect that this is part of the motivation for Crosby\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s choice because\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 well, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not like the show was doing much for her.<\/p>\n

God, the more I think about this, the more furious I am. What a waste of a character! What a terrible way to let her go! I know that I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m biased because I latched on to Tasha pretty early on, and I know that this clouds my view. But I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t care because I feel like it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fair to want this cast to be treated equally. By the end of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Skin of Evil,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I feel like the writers stuffed in a last-minute dedication to a character they realized was underused. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s too little too late.<\/p>\n

The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Skin of Evil\u00e2\u20ac\u009d can be downloaded here for $0.99<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n

– The Mark Does Stuff Tour 2015 is now live and includes dates across the U.S., Canada, Europe, the U.K., and Ireland. Check the full list of events on my Tour Dates \/ Appearances page.<\/a>
\n– My Master Schedule<\/a> is updated for the near and distant future for most projects, so please check it often. My next Double Features for Mark Watches will be the remainder of The Legend of Korra<\/i>, series 8 of Doctor Who<\/i>, and Kings<\/i>. On Mark Reads, Diane Duane’s Young Wizards<\/i> series will replace the Emelan books.
\n<\/b>– Mark Does Stuff is on Facebook!<\/a> I’ve got a community page up that I’m running. Guaranteed shenanigans!
\n– If you would like to support this website and keep Mark Does Stuff running, I’ve put up a detailed post explaining how you can!
\n<\/a>– Please check out the MarkDoesStuff.com<\/a>. All Mark Watches videos for past shows\/season are now archived there!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"